The present invention relates to integrated circuits, network devices and systems, and more particularly to a single integrated remote access processor circuit for communication between a plurality of networks having different protocols.
Electronic data networks are becoming increasingly widespread for the communication of divergent types of data including computer coded text and graphics, voice and video. Such networks enable the interconnection of large numbers of computer work stations, telephone and television systems, video teleconferencing systems and other facilities over common data links or carriers.
Personal computers and computer work stations are typically interconnected by local area networks (LANs) such as Ethernet, Token Ring, DECNet and RS-232, whereas remote systems are interconnected by wide area networks (WANs) such as V.34, ISDN Basic Rate Interface (BRI), and Frame Relay (T1/E1 or fractional T1/E1) networks. LANs and WANs can be interconnected by devices known as hubs, bridges and routers in unlimited configurations.
Interconnect devices are typically bulky and expensive units which operate at a low performance, offer limited connectivity options, and allow minimal end user programmability thus creating a bottleneck between LANs and WANs. For example, many of the current edge routing devices are based on integration at the board level of various components. Transfer operations at the board level require multiple system clock cycles which fundamentally limit the transfer speed. In addition, multiple latencies are present in the various paths by which data moves through the device. The degree by which such latencies can be reduced, as well as the degree by which the size and cost of a multi-chip device can be reduced, are also fundamentally limited.
End users today need a myriad of WAN connectivity options ranging from dial up modems (28.8/33.6 Kb/s) to low speed Frame Relay (56 Kb/s) to ISDN basic rate (128 Kb/s) to high speed Frame Relay (1.5 Mb/s, 45 Mb/s), depending upon the application. However, interconnect devices typically focus on selected LAN and WAN interfaces, such as an "ISDN edge router". This leads to installation of multiple devices at a high cost to meet all of the connectivity needs for small office-home office (SOHO), branch office and mobile office remote access applications.
In addition, interconnect devices today offer limited or no programmability for end users to customize their applications and minimize network usage costs through optimization or channel utilization.
A remote access processor having higher performance, multiprotocol connectivity options, and higher programmability is desired.